Caleb Asks Ryan to be in the Wedding
by storymom
Summary: Based on a TWoP sentence challenge - on how Ryan ended up in Caleb & Julie's wedding. I own zip to do with the OC, Fox, the characters.


"But Caleb," Julie whined, "I don't see why she has to be a bridesmaid. One bridesmaid, a junior bridesmaid and a maid of honor. That's enough. We don't need Hailey, too."  
  
Hailey! Ugh, she only loves Caleb for his money, Julie thought. And Caleb still wants her as a bridesmaid.  
  
"Hailey is my daughter," Caleb said, "You are having your two daughters, and I want to have both of mine."  
  
"What about a best man and groomsmen? Have you thought of that? You'll need two groomsmen if Hailey is in the wedding. Who are you going to ask? Jimmy?" Julie countered.  
  
Caleb just snorted. Somethimes Julie made absolutely no sense. Why would he need Jimmy Cooper?  
  
"No." Caleb told her, "I figured on Sandy, Seth and Ryan."  
  
"Ryan?" Julie spat, "The boy from Chino. You're going to ask the boy from Chino to be in our wedding!"  
  
Caleb just shrugged his shoulders before answering her,  
  
"Why not? Then it's all family."  
  
Julie was finding it very hard to contain her sarcasm. First Hailey and now Ryan. Who next, her sister Cindy?  
  
"Family? Since when do you consider Ryan family?" she asked.  
  
"Well, KiKi and Sandy do, so we really don't have a choice. It'll make KiKi happy if we include him. And just think how happy it'll make Marissa." Caleb told her, with an edge to his voice. He wasn't going to continue this argument with her. This was the decision he made, and it was the decision she would have to agree to.  
  
"Fine," Julie told him, "Include Ryan if you must. But remember, he may say no."  
  
Caleb was incredulous.  
  
"Say no? He's not going to say no. Why would he say no?"  
  
Julie just smiled and kissed Caleb goodbye. If anyone was stupid enough to say no to Caleb Nichol, it would be Ryan Atwood, Julie thought. Or at least Julie was hoping he would be stupid enough to say no.  
  
Kirsten was in her office early, hoping to make a dent in the pile of work on her desk. She was also hoping not to have to see her father or Julie today. She wanted to concentrate on work and not their upcoming nightmare nuptials  
  
Unfortunately, she didn't get too far into her pile when her father walked in.  
  
"Morning KiKi. How's it going?" Caleb asked.  
  
"Busy." Kirsten answered, without looking up, "What can I do for you, Dad?"  
  
"As you know," Caleb began, as he rubbed his hands together, "Julie and I are working on the wedding plans."  
  
"Uh huh." Kirsten answered, absent mindedly, still not looking up from her work.  
  
"And she's decided on you, Hailey, Marissa and Caitlyn as her attendants." Caleb continued.  
  
"Dad," Kirsten interrupted, "Isn't it up to Julie to pick who she wants to be in her wedding party?"  
  
"She did." Caleb told her.  
  
"And she choose Hailey?" Kirsten snidely asked.  
  
Caleb told her, "We decided together."  
  
Kirsten didn't doubt for a minute that her father made the choice for Julie. He always made the choices, and people were just expected to accept them. She also knew that her father wanted more then to just inform her about Julie's attendants.  
  
"What do you need, Dad?" she asked.  
  
"What makes you think I need something?" Caleb asked. But when Kirsten just looked up at him, he continued, "Ok, look, we decided to just keep the wedding party to family..."  
  
"And?" Kirsten asked.  
  
"And I need you to talk to Sandy and the boys about being in the wedding party, too." Caleb said quickly.  
  
"The boys?" Kirsten asked.  
  
Caleb nodded, "Yes. Seth and Ryan."  
  
"And Ryan?" Kirsten repeated, "Since when do you consider Ryan family?"  
  
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Caleb asked, "I told the boy he could call me Caleb, didn't I?"  
  
"No," Kirsten corrected, "I told him to call you Caleb. You just glared at him."  
  
Caleb was quickly growing tired of this discussion.  
  
"Either way," he said, "I need you to talk to them. Ask Sandy to be the best man, and the boys to be groomsmen. JuJu will give you the time and place for their tuxedo fittings."  
  
Kirsten couldn't believe what her father was asking. Well, she could believe it, because it was her father, but she still wanted to clarify this with him,  
  
"You want me to ask them to be in your wedding party?"  
  
"Yes. I knew you'd understand." Caleb said, as he turned to leave her office.  
  
But then he heard Kirsten say, "No."  
  
"No?" he asked, "What do you mean 'no'?"  
  
"No. If you want Sandy, Seth and Ryan to be a part of this wedding then you need to ask them yourself."  
  
"But. I......." Caleb started to say, only to be cut off by Kirsten,  
  
"Sandy is at work, and Seth and Ryan are at school until three o'clock."  
  
And with that, Kirsten turned her attention back to the pile of work on her desk, leaving her father to figure out on his own what to say to convince everyone else in her family to be a part of the unholy union.  
  
Sandy sat behind his desk doodling on his legal pad. He knew he should be working on settling some of the cases on his desk, but he was tired of being the lawyer to the rich and spoiled. That's what the Lighthouse was for. It was his way to get away from all the crap. But now Caleb owned the Lighthouse, and Sandy had absolutely no interest in any of the files piled in front of him.  
  
He was still doodling when his secretary buzzed to tell him Caleb Nichol was waiting to see him. Ah, the king of the rich and spoiled himself, Sandy thought.  
  
"Nice office, Sanford." Caleb said when he walked in, "Much better then the PD's office, I'm sure. I must say, I'm impressed."  
  
"You're impressed! Well, then it makes it all worth it!" Sandy snidely told him. "What brings you here today, Cal?"  
  
Caleb again began to rub his hands together as he said, "It's about the wedding. JuJu said she was going to ask KiKi to be her maid of honor, so I figured that you would be the best man."  
  
"Me? You want me to be your best man?" Sandy asked him, "Isn't that a position that you would ask a friend to fill? Oh, wait, you don't have any friends!"  
  
"Very funny." Caleb told him, "So I can count on you?"  
  
Sandy just smirked and then sarcastically said, "Fine. If you need me."  
  
"JuJu will let you know when and where the fittings are for the tuxedos. I'll make sure she makes them late enough so there's no problems for any of you." Caleb advised him.  
  
"Any of us?" Sandy asked.  
  
Caleb nodded and told him,  
  
"Yes. You. Seth. And Ryan. You'll all need tuxedos if you're going to be in the wedding."  
  
"Wait." Sandy said, "When did you ask Seth and Ryan to be in your wedding?"  
  
"I didn't. I figured you could tell them about it." Caleb told him.  
  
Sandy stared at Caleb for a minute before asking,  
  
"You want me to ask Seth and Ryan to be in your wedding? Isn't that your job?"  
  
"What difference does it make who tells them?" Caleb said, "I figured since they're your boys, you could tell them."  
  
Sandy shook his head. He knew what Caleb was trying to get at. He knew that it wasn't Seth Caleb didn't want to talk to. It was Ryan. Seth would say yes, because it was Seth. And Caleb was his grandfather; he'd feel obligated to say yes. But Ryan? There was no reason to think Ryan would say yes. Ryan had every right to say no and laugh in Caleb's face. Not that Ryan would, but he would have the right.  
  
"No." Sandy told him, "I'm not going to tell them that they're expected to be in your wedding party. If you want them to be a part of all of this, then you need to ask them. Both of them. They'll be home from school around 3:30."  
  
Seth sat in front of the television, playing Grand Theft Auto by himself. He knew he should quit the playstation and start on his homework, but he didn't feel like it. He heard the doorbell, but figured it wasn't for him, so he let Rosa answer it.  
  
He was surprised when he looked up to see his grandfather come into the den.  
  
"Hey, Grandpa," he said,"Mom's not here. Isn't she at the office?"  
  
"I didn't come to see your mother." Caleb said, "I came to see you. And Ryan."  
  
Seth shrugged and told him,  
  
"Ryan's not here. He's out somewhere with Marissa."  
  
"Oh. Why aren't you out with your girlfriend? What's her name, Autum, right?" Caleb asked.  
  
"Summer." Seth corrected, "She had a date. With her dad. Again."  
  
"Oh," Caleb said again, not really interested.  
  
"Anyway," he continued, "About my wedding. Your mom and dad are both going to be in the wedding party, and I figured you guys could be the groomsmen. You know, the ushers."  
  
Seth could have guessed that he'd be stuck being part of the whole wedding nightmare, so it didn't really bother him to actually have his grandfather ask him. Honestly, he just assumed he'd be told that he was in the wedding, not asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure, Grandpa. Sounds great." Seth said.  
  
"Ok, good." Caleb said, "So you'll tell Ryan, and we'll let you know when you need to get fitted for your tuxedos."  
  
Caleb turned to leave, but Seth stopped him,  
  
"Wait, Grandpa." he said, "I'm not the one to tell Ryan. I mean it's great that you want to include Ryan, too, and I think you should be the one to tell him."  
  
Caleb just shrugged his shoulders before saying,  
  
"But Ryan's not here, and I need to go. So you'll tell him when he gets home."  
  
Seth didn't get a chance to answer. He didn't need to answer, as the door to the garage opened, and Ryan walked in.  
  
"Hey, man. What's up?" Ryan said as he walked into the den, "Oh, hello, Mr. Nichol. Sorry, didn't see you."  
  
Caleb nodded his head and said, "Hello Ryan."  
  
It was an awkward moment. A very quiet moment. A moment that Seth didn't want to be a part of any longer. He put his hand to his ear and said,  
  
"What? What's that? I think I hear Captain Oats calling me. I better go make sure he's ok. See you later Grandpa. Ryan."  
  
Seth walked out of the room, leaving Caleb alone in the den with Ryan.  
  
"Yeah. Um, excuse me, too, Mr. Nichol. Homework." Ryan said, as he also attempted to get out of the den.  
  
"Wait, Ryan." Caleb said, "Do you have a second?"  
  
"Sure." Ryan said. He really didn't want to give Caleb a second. Not too many people made Ryan nervous, but Caleb Nichol did. He knew the guy didn't like him, and definitely didn't want him with the Cohens, so he had no idea what Caleb could possibly want to talk to him about.  
  
"Have a seat." Caleb said. "So, as you know, Julie and I are getting married. Soon. Kirsten, Hailey, Caitlyn and Marissa have all agreed to be attendants. Sandy's agreed to be the best man, and Seth one of the groomsman. We figured that you could be the other groomsman, with Seth."  
  
Ryan didn't have an answer, not right away. For a minute, Caleb thought maybe Ryan just didn't hear him since he just stared at Caleb, blankly.  
  
Finally Ryan asked, "Me? Um, why?"  
  
Caleb tried to think of an answer,  
  
"Well, you know it would mean a lot to Kirsten and Marissa if you were also a part of the wedding party."  
  
"Thanks, but you don't have to. Really. It's ok. I understand." Ryan said as he stood to leave.  
  
"Ryan." Caleb said as he grabbed Ryan's arm to keep him from leaving, "I'm asking you to be in the wedding. Everyone else in the family is going to be a part of this. I figured that you'd want to be a part, too. Part of this family."  
  
Again, Ryan was left speechless. Caleb never made it a secret that he didn't like Ryan, and now he was asking Ryan to be part of his wedding, his family. It didn't make any sense to Ryan, especially since his bride-to-be hated Ryan more then Caleb.  
  
"You know, if Kirsten asked you to do this," Ryan said, "you don't have to. It's ok. Really. I, uh. I'll just tell Kirsten I said no. Then she could be mad at me, and not you."  
  
Ryan again tried to leave the den. He didn't like to talk to Caleb any more then he had to.  
  
"Ryan." Caleb said, "You don't need to lie to Kirsten. You just need to say yes."  
  
"Please." he added.  
  
Ryan stared at Caleb for a minute. He was really asking Ryan to be part of the marriage of the gruesome twosome. Ryan didn't know why. He knew there was no way it was Julie's idea, and he couldn't believe it would actually have been Caleb's idea. Honestly, Ryan wouldn't have been surprised if he wasn't even invited to the wedding, but here was Caleb Nichol asking him to be in the wedding party. Ryan knew that Caleb was right about one thing, it would make Marissa and Kirsten happy if he said yes. It would also make Sandy and Seth happy. And Ryan knew it would make Julie Cooper not happy. Not happy at all. So Ryan smiled and said,  
  
"Yeah, sure Mr. Nichol. No problem."  
  
Caleb actually almost smiled. That was easier then he thought it would be. The kid's not half bad, he thought.  
  
"Call me Caleb. And. Thanks." Caleb said, as he extended his hand for Ryan to shake. 


End file.
